It's 10:20 AM. I am leaving for the airport at 1:30 and have not started packing or have finished cleaning the house. The reason? I spent four hours making these postcards all in a rush to make sure I can send them from the next location where a cake will be floated. There are two dozen things wrong with them mainly because I had so little time to work on them and was using a wooden straight edge instead of a metal one. I am not sold on the print quality on either the front or back. I have better ideas for the next round. Thankfully there will never be another turn-over as fast as this one in between cake floats. The next cake float should take place Saturday or Sunday in a place that promises to be 85-90 degrees all week. Hooray!
Packing "Big Pink" for the road. It's fragile therefore it was elected to be a "driving cake."
Why the pink cake for Louisville? It's aesthetic fits what just took place last weekend in this city.
Not to be outdone, we later found a child-size tutu in a consignment shop and what do you know? We had our own Derby hat.
Problem #1: Upon arrival at the Galt House in Louisville, Kentucky we came to the AWFUL realization that the outdoor swimming pool is CLOSED until Memorial Weekend (surprisingly we were not informed of this bit of information when reserving our room a month ago - I even asked!). We could go out on the pool deck but a rather large, locked gate greeted us at the entry.
Problem #1 Resolution: Trespass or ask permission? At first we thought trespassing but there was a housecleaning crew parked right inside in full view of our activities so we brought the cake to the concierge (because who after seeing this thing would refuse?!). Doug at the front desk helped us obtain entry. Interesting facts we learned while waiting for Doug to summon Archie to open up the lock on the gate itself: Last weekend Hugh Heffner landed a helicopter on the roof of the Galt House. Kentucky Derby Day guests who also stayed here last weekend included: Michael Jackson, Tom Brady, and Barry Bonds. Who knew we were staying in the same hotel? Artists and sports stars.... hmmmmm.
Problem #2: the wind factor. As this is an outdoor pool very near the banks of the Ohio River, the wind was very strong! Fortunately it slowed down considerably since the previous night. While waiting, I figured out what direction it was blowing and fortunately, it coincided directly with resolving Problem #3: the sun factor. Here I am having a Roni Horn moment (or Vija Celmens?) staring at the water from behind the gate.
Problem #3 Resolution: Timing was on our side. This was the only part of the swimming pool that had direct sun intermittently. Fortunately, the sun came out the moment Hannah set the cake in the water and the wind blew it to the east side of the pool where I was standing. In my mind, all these photographs must have sunshine - we'll see if the weather pans out the rest of the summer. It was a close call today.
Thank goodness it actually floated!
...and held up after the float!
For those of you that have requested postcards (and for the 20 of you that will automatically receive them without asking because I'm either related to you or we're surgically tied at the hip in some form or another)... you'll see the final image in the mail soon! I will also post the final images at the end of the summer once all nine are photographed. I'm really, really excited that the first cake turned out so well!
Afterward... Hannah and I spent the rest of the afternoon eating yellow food,
trying to figure out where our favorite Louisville resident would hang out,
purchasing a new record by the above favorite Louisville resident at Ear X-tacy.
and tracking down some artwork at the 21C Hotel (Ned Kahn's Cloud Rings).
I've long thought about doing a postcard project channeling my inner Eleanor Antin (100 Boots though this won't end up in a MOMA exhibition). 
My dear friend James has inspired me with his recent contribution to The Postcard Collective. Maybe this is the project/performance/art event that will merit postcards? After all those mail art assignments I gave at Oregon State, it's long overdue. 
As resident trickster (or so says Hannah), I wish I could get away with Yves Klein convincing the post office to use his stamp instead of an official one. We will see what becomes of this... we'll see.
Less than a month after deciding that I wanted to do this project, the cakes are ready to go and I'm off to Louisville, Kentucky.
The previous post featured photographs of people standing next to fake cakes that they were particularly proud of. I've been thinking a lot about this tradition in portraiture and have accumulated some images below of people and their objects (though some were once living therefore "object" is a slight misnomer).
Robert Cumming, Eight Year Old Girl + Six Month Old Weed, 1974
Jeongmee Yoon, Ethan and His Blue Things, 2006
O. Winston Link, Self-Portrait
Graciela Iturbide, Na'Marcelina, 1984
Philip Kwame Apagya
Roger Ballen, Plumber's Assistant, 1998
Bill Owens, Rock Collectors
Daniela Rossell from Ricos Y Famosas
Malick Sidibe, Tue une hyene, 1986
Aaron Ruell
Taxidermy School
Alec Soth, Bonnie with Angel
Joel Sternfeld, A Blind Man in His Garden, 1984
Someone came to the blog today typing in the above words in Google. Considering I've gone through 21 tubes of caulk in the last two weeks, it seemed like a highly appropriate title for this entry. Tomorrow the cakes will be finished and they are beautiful! I could not have done any of this without Hannah, Natalie, and Chet. Infinite thanks. There will be a studio photograph taken on cake boards/display plates but not until after the first one floats this weekend. This truly means that summer is here!Natalie, in addition to being a contemporary art historian who knows everything about Keith Haring, Kenny Scharf, and Jean-Michel Basquiat, is also a master cake decorator. She brought all the tools today and showed me how to draw lines, make roses, and scalloped edges. She was so much better at this than I was, so I drew a few lines (only messing things up partially) and she took over for the harder parts (i.e. almost everything else). Hannah dug up a record player for our turntable. The roses are drying overnight and only the two tiered cakes are left to finish. I also want to make a cake topper for the 3-tier cake at some point this summer. 
The professional tools (including edible glitter)... Natalie taught cake decorating classes too.
Notice how I didn't photograph my practice line that occurred minutes after this photo was taken.
The cake as yellow as the desert sun.
This one has the Southeast written all over it. I actually drew the lines radiating from the center of the cake. 
Why am I not going to Spiral Jetty this year?!
Everyone LOVES this cake.
Flowers to be added tomorrow. Caulk produced more "relaxed" flowers but recognizable nonetheless. 
This will not look like the 4th of July after it is done tomorrow.
